Alden Nowlan

Canadian poet, playwright, novelist, short fiction writer, and editor.

  • Born: January 25, 1933
  • Birthplace: Stanley, Nova Scotia, Canada
  • Died: June 27, 1983
  • Place of death:Fredricton, New Brunswick, Canada

Biography

Alden Nowlan’s long and successful literary career could not be predicted from the harsh circumstances of his youth. Nowlan was born during the Depression year of 1933 in the rugged, hardscrabble hill country near Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada. His alcoholic father never held a permanent job, and his mother left their family when he was eight. Subsisting on his father’s meager earnings, the Nowlans had no electricity, furnace, phone, plumbing, or refrigerator. Nowlan quit school at the start of the fifth grade and took several jobs as an unskilled laborer, assuming a rough exterior to match his surroundings.

Despite the hardships of his youth, the young Nowlan’s mind was thirsty for knowledge. He learned to read while still young and committed himself to self-education, even writing poems, essays, short stories, and novellas at the age of eleven. In 1952, at the age of nineteen, Nowlan left his rural home for good and entered the literary community as an editor for a newspaper in New Brunswick. By the age of twenty-four, Nowlan began to write what he considered "real" poetry, culminating in the publication of his first two books of verse, A Darkness in the Earth and The Rose and the Puritan, both appearing in 1958. His growing status as a figure in Canada’s literary community lead to the publication of three more books of poetry shortly thereafter, Wind in a Rocky Country (1960), Under the Ice (1961), and The Things Which Are (1962).

As a man from an isolated background entering the larger world, Nowlan’s poems in this period are realistic portraits of an individual facing an alienating society. Nowlan focuses on social critique, praising strength, courage, and honesty, and reviling duplicity and selfishness. The critical success of his poetry earned him a grant from the Canada Council, allowing him to quit his job as editor in 1962. Following shortly upon his marriage to Claudine Orser in 1964, Nowlan fought for his life against a near-terminal case of cancer, which necessitated the removal of his thyroid and part of his larynx, followed by a long period of convalescence.

After his illness, Nowlan’s poetry turned much more introspective, becoming self-critical and exploring the strengths and weaknesses of the human psyche, as exemplified in his sixth book of poetry, Bread, Wine, and Salt (1967). The heightened intellectual intensity and seriousness of his poetry is reflected by his receipt of an arts grant from the Canada Council and a Guggenheim fellowship in 1967. He also won a Governor General’s Award and became a writer-in-residence at the University of New Brunswick in 1969, a post he held for the rest of his life.

In addition to his poetry, Nowlan wrote a celebrated book of short stories, Miracle at Indian River: Stories (1968), which is often compared to Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio . He also wrote several popular plays. However, his poetry, which never lost the mark of Nowlan’s native region, will long be remembered and anthologized. Nowlan died in 1983.

Author Works

Drama (with Walter Learning):

Frankenstein: The Man Who Became God, pr. 1974; pb. 1975

The Dollar Woman, pr. 1977

The Incredible Murder of Cardinal Tosca, pr. 1978; pb. 1979

Long Fiction:

Various Persons Named Kevin O'Brien, 1973

The Wanton Troopers: A Novel, 1988

Poetry:

A Darkness in the Earth, 1958

The Rose and the Puritan, 1958

Wind in a Rocky Country, 1960

Under the Ice, 1961

The Things Which Are, 1962

Bread, Wine, and Salt, 1967

A Black Plastic Button and a Yellow Yoyo, 1968

The Mysterious Naked Man: Poems, 1969

Playing the Jesus Game: Selected Poems, 1971

Between Tears and Laughter, 1971

I'm a Stranger Here Myself, 1974

Smoked Glass, 1977

Double Exposure, Brunswick Press, 1978

I Might Not Tell Everybody This: Poems, 1982

Early Poems, Fiddlehead Poetry Books, 1983

An Exchange of Gifts: Poems New and Selected, 1985

What Happened When He Went to the Store for Bread: Poems, 1993

The Best of Alden Nowlan, 1993

Selected Poems, 1996

White Madness, 1996

Road Dancers, 1999

Short Fiction:

Miracle at Indian River: Stories, 1968

Will Ye Let the Mummers In? Stories, 1984

Bibliography

Cook, Greg. "Alden Nowlan, Something Rare and Beautiful: A Memoir." Canadian Writers, Athabasca University, 12 Feb. 2015, canadian-writers.athabascau.ca/english/writers/anowlan/essay2.php. Accessed 19 June 2017. This profile of Nowlan combines Cook's personal experience with the writer with analysis of his works and career.

Cook, Gregory M. One Heart, One Way: Alden Nowlan: A Writer's Life. Pottersfield Press, 2003. A biography of Nowlan by a fellow poet.

Jessop, Paula. "Alden Nowlan." The Canadian Encyclopedia, Historica Canada, 20 Oct. 2014, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/alden-nowlan/. Accessed 19 Jun. 2017. This brief biography includes excerpts from Nowlan's poetry to illustrate the different phases of his career.

Oliver, Michael Brian. Alden Nowlan and His Works. ECW Press, 1991. Presents criticism and interpretation of Nowlan's work, in the context of his life.

Richards, David Adams. "I Went to Meet Alden Nowlan. . ." The Globe and Mail, 22 Apr. 2009, www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/i-went-to-meet-alden-nowlan/article20449662/?page=all. Accessed 19 Jun. 2017. This essay examines Nowlan's legacy through both analysis of his works and Richard's own experience knowing the writer.

Toner, Patrick. If I Could Only Turn and Meet Myself: The Life of Alden Nowlan. Goose Lane, 2000. A standard biography of Nowlan.